Let Go
by puzzl-in
Summary: AU. Their days were counted from the start. RxN - ON HIATUS
1. Day 216: Prologue

**Italics: memories**

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_Day 216_

They say she's in a coma; but he likes to think she's sleeping.

He finds it easy to pretend with the memories of the accident slowly fading; becoming as distant as the briefly recalled flashes of a dream. When there's nothing to do but watch her, it becomes very easy to imagine the tubes aren't tangled along her pale arms; the oxygen mask isn't hiding her full, pink lips; and the tender scar isn't slicing through the skin of her cheek. In fact, he can almost fool himself enough to see the hospital bed adorned with familiar dark blue sheets, with a single pillow to cradle her head. He likes to close his eyes and imagine he is laying beside her, watching her small nose wrinkle as breaths of beautiful laughter escape her lips. It's how he remembers her. How he _chooses _to remember her.

He tries to forget the rest.

Two months have past since the accident; and he has been beside her every day since. By now, the nurses have begun to recognise him; the man with the sad blue eyes. They know he can't be much older than twenty; not quite a man, not quite a boy. Puppy, they decided to call him. They would mutter a brief greeting as Puppy past by in the corridors, to which he might despondently grunt or ignore them altogether. But they have enough understanding of his situation to let the impolite responses, or lack there of, slide. His priorities don't lie with idle chitchat and forced civility. They lie with the young woman in room 10.

And he is back again today.

The man, as usual, walks with his head down. His clothes - a black blazer, white shirt and dark jeans - are crumpled, much like his mess of blonde hair. Everything about him is messy, even the way he walks; with his hands buried in his pockets, and his shoulders dropped almost comically low. He passes the open doors of the elevator and takes the stairs beside it, letting each step come to meet him in their own time. On the next floor, a half open door spills a shaft of bright light into the corridor. He makes for it, his eyes finally raising to meet the number 10. A nurse walks out of the room as he approaches, her eyes averted to the clipboard in her hands. He recognises her, but he doesn't return the kind smile she offers as she walks by. He waits a moment, then, shrugging his hands out of the blazer pockets, he pushes open the white door to room 10.

When he sees her, his lips spread into a soft smile. "Hey, Naminé…I'm back."

Naminé, however, doesn't answer. Her eyes remain lightly closed as she goes on laying in the hospital bed, her small frame covered by the pristine sheets. There is a small vase of flowers on the nightstand; lilies, her favourite.

"Sorry I'm late," Puppy says softly, briefly raising a hand in which he holds a small book. "I brought Landon and Jamie. I thought you probably missed them." He chuckles lightly. "I know you can't go a day without reading this book."

Still no answer. Luckily, he doesn't expect one.

"You know, Sora said he might come by to see you later," he says, taking his usual seat by the bed. His hand fits into hers, his fingers curling around her small, still ones. It doesn't feel like she's touching him at all. He feels as though he is taking advantage, because he knows she would move away if she could, and he tries not to hate it. "He hasn't had much of a chance, since he and Kairi moved away. But he's back in town…you know, for the holidays…"

"_Only losers hate Christmas, Roxas."_

"_I don't hate Christmas. I resent that it's frowned upon for an adult to sneak downstairs to open presents at two in the morning."_

_She laughs. "Aw, you're not an adult yet, Roxas."_

"_Hey, I can vote and everything."_

"_Yes. But you really are as old as you feel."_

_He finds that he can't help but grin. "Touché."_

"…I know you…might…" he trails off, forgetting the words even as he says them. Flashes of soft blue eyes freeze his hand, the pale thumb that was slowly caressing the soft skin of her hand. He hears laughter, soft and beautiful; his unique music…made only by her.

"I…left that job at the café," he says, smiling because she would be proud of him. "I know you hate that I work there. Now I don't." He laughs, but something snatches the sound away. It's sadness. "I…think I might…"

"…_go out for a while."_

_He looks up, meeting cool blue eyes. "What?"_

"_I said I'm going out."_

"_I'll come with you."_

"_No."_

"_Why not?"_

"_Because I want to be alone, Roxas."_

"I…really miss you," Roxas says, his voice little more than a choked sob, as his fingers close tightly around hers. He wants her to hold him back, but she doesn't. "It's…really hard to…you know I…"

"…_you know I still care about you."_

_His laugh is cold. "Is that right?"_

_She sighs. "Roxas…please, don't-"_

"_Don't you dare do that." _

"_Roxas…"_

"_Don't talk to me like I'm some stupid annoyance, Naminé!"_

"God…" Roxas breathes a laugh, wiping away the tears that begin to brim his blue eyes. His stomach feels empty, like there's nothing but a huge black hole that's pulling him in…and in. "Sorry, I keep having meltdowns around you, don't I? I should just start reading…"

He doesn't allow the smile to slip away, however painful it is to his chest. He props open the small book in his lap, using his one free hand to hold the pages apart. And, with a deep trembling breath, he begins to read.

And he'll come back tomorrow. He'll walk through the door with '10' engraved into the wood; maybe with words to say, or another book to read. He'll tell her he misses her, and he'll smile and laugh at comments and memories that hurt. He'll tell her about all the people that are going to visit, even if he knows they won't. And then, at the end of the day, he'll lean forward and leave a soft kiss on her forehead. She won't react, she'll just sleep.

Then he'll turn away and he'll drive home, where he will wait for another morning. But he'll be careful when he leaves, careful not to make a sound, in case he disturbs her.

Because he likes to think she's sleeping.

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**I hadn't planned on starting a new story, but i couldn't ignore this one. I may leave this as a oneshot, but i have ideas for it to become chaptered, in which case this would be a prologue. I'm happy with how this turned out as well, and that hasn't happened on fanfiction yet =)  
****Please review and let me know what you thought, and whether i should leave this as it is, or if i should continue. **


	2. Day 1: Chance

**Thanks to my reviewers for the last chapter!: _silentmusic16, LivingHerOwnFairyTale, Kit-Kat-Wafer, Caxz, NinjaSheik_, and _Procrastination Fairy_.  
You're all amazing =)

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**

_Day 1_

He had only meant to find his cousin.

It was how Roxas found himself in the hallway of the apartment block at 8 o'clock, on his first evening off work in weeks. Head down and hands buried deep in his pockets, Roxas couldn't help feeling he blended right into his drab surroundings. The ugly yellow light of wall lamps lit the narrow corridor in an unnatural glow, making him feel somehow exposed; As if he were standing beneath a spotlight. He kept to a fast pace as he turned into another longer, windowless hall. He wanted to be out of the harshly lit hall. Although his cousin's, Sora's, apartment wasn't exactly a hoarding ground for shadows. He liked the light.

Roxas turned the corner, his arm skimming the wall, and looked up from his feet. He saw her almost immediately. Almost, because the urge to yawn had narrowed his eyes into slits. Through the oval-shaped slits in his eyelids, Roxas saw a girl leant against one of the doors. Any boredom induced yawn forgotten, Roxas paused and widened his eyes. One corner of his lips twitched upward, although simple courtesy forced him to compose himself as he approached her, his footsteps light on the rough carpet.

She appeared to be asleep, although he couldn't be sure. Her blonde hair had fallen in light curtains around her face, angled down towards the knees that were drawn to her chest. But what had caused Roxas to smile was her choice of attire: A pair of lovely blue footie pyjamas.

Roxas hadn't thought he was making any sound, but he must have made some noise because the next step he made caused the girl's head to snap up, like a puppet on a very roughly pulled string. The movement revealed a face that was both contorted in horror and flushed red with embarrassment. She jolted to her feet in a single moment, her arms and legs rigid at her sides as she edged towards the door, as though she might melt into the wood if she tried hard enough.

"T-This isn't mine," she stammered, her blue eyes wide enough to steal away half of her face. She looked, to Roxas, like a child who'd be caught stealing; And in their pyjamas, at that.

Roxas fought to tug down the edges of his mouth. He regarded her with badly disguised amusement, wondering how many times she'd had to repeat that excuse. "Are you OK?" he asked, just about showing concern over enjoyment.

The girl's eyes grew impossibly wider for a moment - with surprise? - and she nodded sharply, froze, then lowered her head and sighed. "I'm locked out," she muttered sadly.

Roxas felt his expression soften, his smile soothing away from amused to gentle, as though he were showing sympathy to a miserable child. "Have you got a roommate?" he asked.

Without raising her eyes, she nodded. She pushed a strand of fair hair behind a round ear, the other hand tugging self-consciously at the leg of her unfortunate choice of clothing. Roxas couldn't help but feel sorry for her.

He frowned, awkwardly chewing on the inside of his lip. "Is your roommate out?"

With a barely noticeable moment of hesitation, she nodded again. "She is."

Roxas nodded slowly, raising a hand to scratch the hairs at the back of his neck. "Well…you can wait in my apartment if you want…" he offered awkwardly, "until she gets back."

The moment the words left his mouth, the girl's head shot up, her eyes narrowed into a suspicious glare as she studied him for the first time. Roxas realised, with slight shame, that he probably looked a mess. With his clothes askew and his hair impossibly more dishevelled than usual, giving a strange girl an invitation into his apartment most likely gave an air of suspicion.

"You're not going to kill me, are you?" she asked, completely serious.

Roxas laughed softly. "I assure you, my intentions are not in any way related to homicide."

She squinted. "You're not a psycho?"

"Nope."

"Sadist?"

"No."

"Rapist?"

"Nope."

"Anything else I haven't mentioned?"

Roxas shrugged. "Unless you consider serial parking ticket obtaining to be fearful," he muttered, just barely managing not to smile, "no."

"Promise?"

"On my life."

She let out a breath, and Roxas wondered whether she had genuinely suspected he was one of her selected psychos. "Well, that's good," she said. "Being killed would suck."

Roxas arched both eyebrows, and the crimson blush instantly crept back across her cheeks. "I'm sorry for…This isn't…I'm not normally so…" She sighed at her sudden speech impediment, and instead chose to smile. "Sorry."

Roxas shook his head. "Don't worry about it. This is usually how I spend my night off work."

She smiled slightly. "Scouring the halls for girls locked out of their apartments?"

Roxas shrugged. "Not just girls."

_Day 217_

"…you told me your name was Naminé, and you promised I would never have to see you in those pyjamas again." Roxas laughs slightly at the memory, his eyes glazed and darkened with exhaustion. He sees the memory as though through a thick haze, both of their faces nothing but blurs on the wall of his mind, worn away with time. Kind of like a scene from a film. But the disc is scratched.

"I kind of liked them, though," he admits, his thumb tracing slow circles over the back of her hand. "You look nice in blue." Somewhat distantly, he smiles. "But you lied, when you said Kairi wasn't home. She had locked you out on a dare, but you still came back with me. And you said it was because you didn't want to be shut outside for another ten minutes." Roxas chuckles. His fingers tighten around her hand for a moment and his eyes flicker up to her face, briefly focusing on her closed eyes, then drift back to her hand. He can't help checking. "I suppose I should have thanked Kairi."

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**Seriously short chapter, i know. But this isn't going to be a huge story. Hopefully i'll update faster than this from now on though. I think this is going to be about 8 or 9 chapters..ish. Some fluffy, some meaningful, some funny, some really stupidly depressing.**

Please Review, it'd make me happy.

**Listening to Holiday Parade made this chapter happen. They inspire me =)**


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